“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” officially opens to the public on Thursday, April 7.
Joining in the celebration were Harry Potter film talent, including Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Evanna Lynch(Luna Lovegood), James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), and Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick), as well as Stuart Craig (Production Designer, Harry Potter films and “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”). Other celebrities included Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project”), Thandie Newton (“Crash”), Vanessa Hudgens (“Grease Live”), Ed O’Neill (“Modern Family”), Jaime Camil (“Jane the Virgin”), Emmy Award-winnerGreg Nicotero (Executive Producer, “The Walking Dead”); Emmy Award-winner Chris Hardwick (Comedian/host, “The Talking Dead”), Alanna Masterson (“The Walking Dead”), and Golden Globe-winning actor, Billy Bob Thornton, among others.
More than five years in the making, and inspired by J.K. Rowling’s compelling stories and characters that were brought to life in the Warner Bros. films, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” has been masterfully recreated with impeccable detail as a real-world interpretation at Universal Studios Hollywood. The land is faithful to the visual landscape of the fiction and films, including Hogwarts castle which serves as its iconic focal point.
Upon entering the land through the archway, Hogsmeade bustles to life with the same vitality of a quaint local village: merchants hard at work, a train conductor welcoming new arrivals and a pub packed to the gills with hungry patrons, but with the added element of enthusiastic guests intent on experiencing them all, including the land’s signature ride, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,” and the family outdoor coaster, “Flight of the Hippogriff™.”
